The early Church believed that God was energizing them by his own personal presence. The Spirit was given so that individual believers, and still more the believers when joined together for corporate worship, would take up their responsibilities as God’s eyes and ears, his hands and his feet, to do what needed to be done in the world. This is why, from the very start, the early Christians looked out at the world, as Jesus had looked out upon his beloved people Israel, and had seen what God was wanting to do and say, and had prayerfully got on and done and said that themselves. That is what ‘mission’ is all about.
Dr. Helen Roseveare, missionary to Zaire, told the following story. “A mother at our mission station died after giving birth to a premature baby. We tried to improvise an incubator to keep the infant alive, but the only hot water bottle we had was beyond repair. So we asked the children to pray for the baby and for her sister. One of the girls responded. ‘Dear God, please send a hot water bottle today. Tomorrow will be too late because by then the baby will be dead. And dear Lord, send a doll for the sister so she won’t feel so lonely.’ That afternoon a large package arrived from England. The children watched eagerly as we opened it. Much to their surprise, under some clothing was a hot water bottle! Immediately the girl who had prayed so earnestly started to dig deeper, exclaiming, ‘If God sent that, I’m sure He also sent a doll!’ And she was right! The heavenly Father knew in advance of that child’s sincere requests, and 5 months earlier He had led a ladies’ group to include both of those specific articles.”
There is a great burden for those who are lost and bound and yet there should be a great burden for men and women of prayer. Today while on earth Christian men and women have become less prayerful and more religious. Less potent in believing God yet waiting on God for the things He knows we need yet never petitioning Him for it in prayer, we need men and women of prayer. We need not to become prayer-less Christians, our world today has become a religious world and have brought these conditions into the Christian church and now we have good deeds take the place of powerful prayer. We have those that give with a clynical pride think that because they have given financially that prayer is an extra curriculum activity, not necessary but beloved prayer along with your giving will go a long way as oppose to just giving, whether it is your time, your finances or any resource, prayer should be the Christians way of breathing.
Beloved prayer is a potent thing, we must remember that even if difficulties stand in the way we must pray. We have many avenues of prayer, we have corporate prayer, this is the praying of the people of God together. Beloved if we are going to pray successfully in our corporate prayer meetings, we must pray in harmony with the will of God and I harmony with eh work He has set for us to do. We must have an aim in our prayers and not just meet and scatter our prayers. Think with me what the needs are, Families that need salvation, Friends that we know are going to hell without Jesus, neighbors and co-workers and so much more, people we haven’t even seen yet, we need God to move in our prayers.
We daily deal with people in the secular world in a business manner whether it is job, transactional or personal beloved there is a great need for us as everyday businessmen and women to infuse our mundane affairs with the spirit of prayer. Sometimes we seem to forget that there is a great army of successful merchants that belong to the body of Christ and it is high time that we as the body as well attend this matter. We have over three thousand churches that are going to participate in this time of prayer and fasting, over three thousand. We need to put God into business, the realization and restraint of His presence and of His fear in all the secularities of life. We need the atmosphere of our prayer closet to spread through our entire public affairs. The sanctity of prayer is needed to impregnate not only our business but just as much His business. We need the spirit of Sunday to carry over to Monday all the way to next Sunday.
Men are badly needed who are devoid of greed, but who, with all their hearts, carrying God with them into the secular affairs of life. The world looks at prayer as impotent towards the affairs of life. Against such a misleading doctrine, Paul the Apostle sets the whole commands of God, loyalty to Jesus Christ claims of pious character, and the demands of salvation of the world. Men and women of God must pray and put all their strength and heart into their praying.
Think about this beloved praying men and women are God’s agents on earth, the representatives of government in heaven, set to a specific task here on earth. You are that agent that has a task on earth to pursue. God has great use of praying men and women. Praying men/women of God are God’s instruments in carrying out God’s great plans for humanity, we as praying Christians are God’s messengers his watchmen, shepherds, workmen, who need not be ashamed. Above all beloved Christian men and women must be leaders in prayer. You and I tonight must give our heart and brain to prayer. I started to think of this, this evening and thought how is it that God can help me shape this sermon, beloved He first had to shape me in prayer, and as this is true God must shape you in prayer before He can shape you in the purpose He has for your life.
I pray more for this than anything else. That the glory of God might be revealed again to this generation so the Presence of God will be so overwhelming, so humiliating, so humbling, so wonderful, so glorious that it will turn us wrong-side-out and all of the worlds thought-up jokes will go down the drain and all of our self-confidence will disappear and we will kneel or fall down face first before a Holy God and cry, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord thy God.
Listen to me child of God, we could have all our plans we want and we can get the help of all the advertisers and all of todays modern mechanical gadgets, but when its all said and done we will fall short unless first God is glorified in the midst of His church, in heartfelt, sincere broken-hearted prayer.
1Timothy 2:1-7
1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, 7 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle--I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying--a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
Paul speaks to His disciple Timothy this truth tonight that prayer is essential in all business, all affairs and all circumstances, he exhorts prayer and supplication as the first and most essential basis of any ministry or business. We are and can be feeble and weak and impoverished because we lack the fervency and desperation of prayer and the power of it in our lives. Think of this tonight beloved we restrain God as we lack Him in prayer. All failures in securing heaven are traceable to the reality of a lack of prayer and misdirected petition. Sometimes we could ask God for the wrong things. “God Change my spouse”, when the person God needs to change is you, God I need more money, well stop spending on foolish things you don’t really need, God why are my children not saved, why am I lacking fruit, why this and why that? Lack of prayer.
Prayer beloved must be a direct target of what you are praying for, to have prayer in a broad perspective is to be lazy and lack desperation. True prayer is intercessory prayer, not saying that we shouldn’t pray for ourselves but our prayers should not consist of selfishness, but true prayer is intercessory prayer. When prayer is confined to self and only to the sphere of one’s own personal needs, it dies by reason of its littleness, narrowness and selfishness. Prayer must be unselfish and directed at something. For the pure purpose of souls getting to heaven. True prayer is the stirring of the soul of men and women pleading with God for others. One’s ability to pray for self will find its climax in the compassion concerning the eternal resting place of others in Jesus Christ.
Jesus showed this desire on the cross, His concern was not for Him but for others while nailed to that rugged cross, while they were mocking Him and reviling Him He prayed “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”. His concern was for others while on the cross. Yet we cannot negate the truth that while in the garden before the process of the crucifixion He did pray for Himself, “it you are willing take this cup from me”, but in that prayer He thought of you, “Nevertheless not my will but your will be done”, that will was for the souls of men.
This is the high calling of all Christian men and women of God in the church of Jesus Christ, no calling is so engaging, so engrossing, and so valuable then prayer, we cannot afford to relieve men and women of God from the all-important vocation of prayer. Nothing you can do can take the place of prayer, nothing. Nothing can atone for the neglect of prayer.
Our bible speaks in our text of men who are even in the kings’ position to pray, no man is so high in position or in grace to be exempt from the obligation to pray. The king on his throne is as much obligated as the peasant in the cottage for he leads by example and others will follow. It doesn’t matter how high in the scale you may be or how low in pit you are no one is excused from the responsibility of prayer. The help of everyone is needed to follow through and complete the work of God. Hear this tonight and let this help you understand, Civil and church rulers shape the affairs of this world, and so civil and church rulers themselves need to be shaped personally in spirit, heart, and conduct, in truth and righteousness, by the prayers of God’s people.
1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority,
Beloved it is a sad day when church politics instead of holy praying begin to shape the administration of the kingdom and elevate men to place and position of power. We have this today because we have prayer-less Christians, and as I began to see this truth it broke my heart to see when Christians began to allow blatant sinful men in leadership let alone in the face of God with no change, when adultery and fornication can go unnoticed or un-judged, when entertainment has taken the place of true worship through prayer and supplication, when our Children are asking what are we praying for and to who because it is so rare, this is the prayer-less generation and if not regained our children will pick up the devil’s torch as oppose to the one we should leave, the victorious church of Jesus Christ. Jesus said “Men ought to pray always”, this is now, this is today, “pray and grow not faint”, but this has not been the way things have been.
God has a lot to do with praying men who have a living, transforming faith in Jesus Christ. Think of who we are praying to, our God our Father in heaven. A father loves his children, hears their cries, supplies their needs and answers at their calling. A child believes his father, loves him, trust him, and ask him for what he needs. Your father will answer your prayers.
Beloved we need to be praying men and women of God, your church depends on it, and your children depend on it your future depends on it. As I close tonight beloved I want to encourage you that prayer was and is intended for God’s ear. Prayer includes the entire range of God’s ability. Prayer belongs to no favored segment of man’s need but reaches to and embraces the entire circle of his wants simply because God is the God of the whole man. See beloved prayer-less men and women won’t see the God that has pledged Himself to the supplying of our needs in every aspect of life. “But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus”. Prayer is the child of grace and grace is for the whole man, and every one of the children of God, which you are. Beloved my plead to you is that we do not become prayer-less Christians and miss the promise declared to us in our bible. Let us continue to believe in the name of Jesus Christ.
